Tessa Jowell announces Mayoral Campaign in Ealing

Tessa Jowell chose an Ealing charity dinner to announce her bid for the London Mayoralty. It was at Friday's Ealing North Labour Party fundraiser in Perivale that she put an end to speculation and officially announced that she will run for the Labour nomination to be London Mayor in 2016.

Tessa Jowell MP, who presided over the Olympic bid as the former Culture Secretary, has joined Tottenham MP David Lammy, formerly the sole applicant.

Tessa told diners who included the host, Steve Pound MP, Ealing Southall’s Virendra Sharma MP, Ealing Council leader Julian Bell and Ealing and Hillingdon London Assembly Member Onkar Sahota, that she would be misguided not to put herself forward as a candidate. She said: “I keep being asked about the London mayoral campaign... I’ll give it my best shot.”

Rupa also spoke at the event, she said: “It is time to turn that one blue Conservative parliamentary seat in the borough red”. Rupa pointed out that the current Tory MP Angie Bray had voted against the 'save the NHS' Bill that very day.

She said: “After all the posturing on the health service – Cameron told us he’d cut the deficit not the NHS, yet two local A&Es have closed already, at Central Middlesex and Hammersmith. Ealing and Charing Cross are also due to shut in the New Year.

Ealing hospital’s maternity unit is going in March after £2million of investment and despite the borough having the third highest birth-rate in London. You can’t trust the Tories on the NHS”.

Tessa told diners that she would put the capital’s housing crisis at the centre of her campaign and stressed the importance of winning seats such as Ealing Central and

Acton to get a Labour government elected. She said that after the General Election her campaign would have a launch party. “I'll announce with balloons and stuff," she said.